in the garden

mid autumn...

 a busy time. while others may start winding down their gardens for the cooler months, now is the prefect time for growing in our area. the days are still warm enough to promote fast and healthy growth and often with night there comes a dew that helps to keep up the moisture content of the soil. calm soft breezes and sunny days provide great growing conditions. another bonus during the autumn months is the lack of hungry bugs and birds around although i am always on the look out for the snails.

it has still been quite dry here and we are so fortunate to have plenty of water. our garden is lovely and green and the lack of shady trees not so missed at the moment.

i have grown plenty of seedlings from seed this season and with a top up of seedlings from the nursery the vegetable beds are full. we have all sorts of asian greens, broccoli, rocket, lettuces, carrots, leeks, coriander, beetroot, kale, spinach and silver beet, radishes, dill (to be used in wonderful fish soups this winter, yum!) dandelion greens, parsley, chives and celery. the only plants not doing too well are the peas, they all sprouted so well but have since gone yellow and some have even died. maybe the salt air is not agreeing with them.

plenty of garlic has been planted and is just poking their sweet little green spears through the soil. last year we had a wonderful harvest of around sixty heads of garlic. i have used some of that harvest and planted out over 140 cloves this year. as we still have quite a bit left i am hoping it will see us through and we won't have to buy any. after this year's harvest we will surely have enough for our family for an entire year.

thinking of my daughter's love of picking flowers (oh and mine too!) i have planted many seedlings of flowers. i have no idea when these will actually be flowering. it will look wonderful if they all flower at once however that is unlikely, i think. i am never that clever. larkspurs, ranaculas, poppies, sweet william, pansies (which the snails ate for dinner one night), stocks, sweet peas, marigolds, cornflowers and nasturtium. seeds of hollyhock, tobacco plant and cosmos tossed to the wind, i care not where they choose to grow, just hoping they fill the garden. 

it has been such a happy time for me in the garden of late, i am much more grounded with my hands in the soil. slowly, slowly it is improving, the soil holding more water, full of worms, the grass cover helping to create a small cooling micro climate keeping the dust down, the weeds becoming fewer with each passing season.

i am trying hard to make my peace with this little plot we have right now and not expect so much from it, to work with it and to simply enjoy it.